Introduction of my kitchen reno, with pics/screenshots

greenhavenMarch 8, 2014

I am in the very beginning stages of planning a kitchen renovation; it was part of the deal when we bought this house, that I would get to redo the kitchen in a year or two. It is a horrible misuse of space in a house that is nearly 2200 sq ft. Believe me, I am doing my homework on planning and design! But I am open to suggestions now, but limiting them to layout (except for glass cabs as noted.)

So, my first challenge is to come up with a working floor plan; aesthetics and design come after since I am very much a function-over-form kind of gal, and it will take me a while to come up with a cohesive style for a semi-open home.

Here are some photos/screen shots. Now, don�t be too jealous of my burgundy countertops, if you really love them that much I can make you a super deal! ;o)
P.S., we have not been here very long, we just moved in the end of January, so the kitchen is sloppy and there are makeshift measures in place (like the bakers rack that holds the microwave but does not fit in that space.)

Current layout referencing 2d footprint:

1. Door to far left leads to garage, mudroom "space" planned for that left wall
2. Living room on opposite side of bottom wall
3. Hallway to right leads to laundry room, half bath, master bedroom and attached master bath (but we are currently sleeping upstairs where the only shower is located)
4. Opening at bottom lines directly up with the front-door entry
5. I do not currently use all my cabinet space, as it is too small or inconveniently located to be of much use

Differences in island layout:

1. mock-up represented without soffit
2. wall and base between fridge and range are 21" instead of 15"
3. removal of partition wall beside fridge allows fridge to slide down a few inches to accommodate above
4. wall cab above DW is glass-fronted
5. addition of OTR Microwave
6. island is 60" instead of 48"
7. island is represented with table but will be standard cabinets with 12" overhang on DR side
8. island is closer to range/fridge by about a foot
9. addition of 27" base cab beside DW

a. Both layouts increase storage space, plus I have lots of places in the dining room and laundry area to add extra storage
b. Peninsula layout does not accommodate overhang for stool seating (would be only occasional) but allows walkway flexibility
c. The short wall beside the fridge is not functional in any way (except to house electrical wires that are easily re-routed), and necessitates only a 12" space between fridge and range
d. I love the look of an open island, but would lose all storage space in my current one, and as you can see that is a big deal. BUT, the corner wall cabs could be better, and the cab between fridge and range can be bigger to hold more stuff.

So I am torn between preserving as many of the existing cabs with new doors/painting and keeping the costs lower so I can get this done sooner or tearing it all out and starting fresh, which means a much more expensive project, thus having to wait longer.

Yo're just rehashing the old layout, and not making any real gains in addressing the primary problem. That is the actual lack of space nd less than optimum trafficpatterns because of where the doors are all located. Flip the kitchen with the breakfast area and think about taking down the wall between it and the family room.

I am sorry for not being more clear; the area to the left of the kitchen is a biiiig dining room. Another gross misuse of space. This whole house is poorly designed, but our options for something to purchase with acreage in our price range were few. The kitchen is the worst, for obvious reasons, so my task is to use the space I have to its highest potential.

Hubs already said the wall is not coming down.

Yes, traffic flow is somewhat a problem, but moving from the LR into DR is not real bad. Flipping the DR and kitchen is NOT an option, if for no other reason than the fact that DH and I mainly use that door into the garage and I do not want to walk in from the garage into my kitchen. We do have two big dogs that primarily use this door, too.

I know the space is a challenge, but we really don't have many options without moving windows and doors, and that is highly unlikely. That is why I am here. :o)

PS, those mock-ups and floor plans posted really small, but if you click on them they take you to their Photobucket album where a couple clicks will enlarge them. Not sure why they didn't just post that way.

i have a kitchen with a similar floor plan. we built our home 15 years ago and its a super common home plan with a slider and 2 doorways. i like the peninsula version and think it would give you tons of counter and storage space. i am redoing my kitchen within my floor plan as well. i notice the upper cab by the slider could be widened to give you even more storage. that is what i did and i cant wait to have more cabinet space. also you probably have 30" tall wall cabs which is a waste of space above. i swap the 30"s for 39" and i only have 8ft ceilings so it won't have that big gap anymore.
painting the existing and matching to new might be tough and it limits your new cabinet choices.

I don't think re-using any of your existing cabinets would give you a functional space - not worth the effort.

My old kitchen had similar cabinets - the same useless 12" drawer stack, the same LS between sink and range. When we remodeled, one of the best things we did was move the stove a foot to the right, deaden the corner, and put drawers on both sides. The additional prep space in that corner is a dream! Obviously moving the fridge negates the peninsula.

I would put the fridge where you currently have the baker's rack. Slide the DW over as much as necessary, and put in a smaller sink base. Now you can move the range over to vastly improve your prep space. I would put drawers on each side of the range, and put your access to the corner from the sink side.

I went from a diagonal upper corner cabs to easy-reach, and I am thrilled with the improvement! I also went from 30" to 42" uppers. I added extra shelves to most of the uppers, giving me a lot more storage space without having to stack things.

I kept the same footprint, but by making more efficient use of the space, I increased my storage space by about 40%.

I'd chose delayed gratification. Painting won't fix your lack of storage and countertop problems. You really have no place on the perimeter for prep and your island is too far away from the stove. It has cabs on only one side and a too small overhang, so it's not a great island for storage or seating.

I can see the lure of the big peninsula countertop, but it's also too far away for prep, so you'll still try to squeeze in between the sink and stove. I also don't like the DW in the corner, which forces you to unload onto the counter first. The peninsula is veeery long and detracts from the openness of the kitchen. I would get rid of the open shelf. Is that just so you can add an extra seat?

So my vote is for the island plan. It looks pretty straight-forward. Is there anything you don't like about that plan?

annkh your suggestions were genius! We talked about moving the fridge to that location, but there are a gazillion switches in that area. But 1: there are way too many switches in general in this house, in this area in particular,and 2. we would have to move electrical anyway to take down that partition wall.

I played around with the Lowe's planner some more, plugging in your suggestions, and LOVE it! I did keep a LS base in the corner, but changed the upper corner to an easy reach. Taking the fridge out allowed me to move the stove down enough to have a 24" to the left and a 27" to the right of it!!!! Without even taking out the partition wall, but maybe shortening it to 24" instead of 36". Woo hoo!

PLUS, this allows me a more useful island, even in the same dimensions I have now, because A. I can get it closer to the stove and B. moving the fridge allows that island to stand right where it should be- in front of the stove instead of in front of the fridge!

PLUS, (this gets better and better!) there is room to move the fridge without reducing my 36" sink base, unless a filler/spacer is needed between fridge and DW,in which case I would only have to go down to a
33" !!!!

I will think about taller wall cabs, but with the addition of such wider cabs already I don't think I will need them, in which case the soffit can stay and save some labor there (although I would love to cut it out at LEAST over the sink.) Can you tell I am super excited???

may flowers, you pretty much brought up every issue I had with the peninsula plan, but I considered it for its work space and additional storage. I added the open shelf because it felt so much more inviting on approach than a solid end. (Love those 3d mock-ups for exactly this reason.) Changing the layout according to annkh's suggestions eliminated all the reasons for going with a peninsula layout, returning that added benefit of walkway and openness.

athomesewing, I think that it is quite possible, especially if we wait and save, and is an excellent suggestion. The only conceivable issue would be having to match siding on the outside of the house if we reduce that opening, which is negligible at worst. We had talked about getting rid of the window in the dining area, getting a larger slider and moving the whole thing down the wall some. but then we are adding major cost and time to the project.

rtwilliams, I did not get much inspiration from those photos as far as layout is concerned, but (despite my vow to address function before design) really clarified problematic style issues I was having, thank you so much!

I appreciate everyone's input more than you could know. I know it is good to start thinking now, but all of a sudden I want the project to start NOW! lol! Imagine that...

Still playing around with cabinet style and placement on window wall (glass/no glass, cabs over DW and fridge, etc.) and am now thinking boldly of sacrificing some storage in the island to maintain a more open feel:

Spent a couple hours at Home Depot dreaming, and came away with some definitives...at least for now! Learning how to make my kitchen mine and not a copycat of someone else's, no matter how beautiful their kitchen may be.